LAUGH IT UP

"A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."1

"Laughter may not be the best medicine, but it is surprisingly effective. While the idea has been around for a while, more studies are confirming the anecdotal evidence. In a study published in Diabetes Care, researchers reported that people with type II diabetes had a smaller rise in blood glucose when they watched a comedy program versus a boring lecture on television. A team at the University of Maryland found that people who laughed often and were able to see the humor in situations were less likely to develop heart disease.

"Researchers say people who laugh tend to be healthier people. In study after study, hostility and anger are associated with disease, and humor with health. This is especially true when you're laughing it up with friends. Research on support groups has shown that the effects of laughter are magnified when it takes place in a social setting."2

Amazing isn't it? It's taken modern science to discover, or at least, to confirm, what God's Word taught 3,000 years ago—that laughter/cheerfulness is a good medicine.

Interesting, too, until the time of Christopher Columbus almost everyone believed the world was flat, and yet Isaiah, one of the Old Testament prophets wrote over 2,000 years ago: "He [God] sits enthroned above the circle of the earth."3

And over 3,000 years ago God gave the ancient Israelites strict laws by which to live, many of which had to do with good health and hygiene. God promised that if they obeyed these laws, they would be protected from diseases that afflicted the Egyptians.4

If we also live according to the principles found in God's Word, the Bible, we too can have a much happier, healthier life. Naturally, we need to know what God's Word teaches if we are to live by it.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, please give me a deep love for and a great appreciation of your Word and, like David, write it on my heart, so that it will help me to live in harmony with your will, knowing that my life will be all the richer for it. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen.

1. Proverbs 17:22 (NIV).
2. Paul Perry, "Seven Resolutions to Keep This Year, Part 6," AH About Health, Winter 2004. Page 9. Published by McMurry publishers and South Coast Medical Center, Laguna Beach, CA. © by www.mcmurry.com.
3. Isaiah 40:22 (NIV).
4. See Exodus 15:26.

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Acts International